A retired educator, historian, writer, blogger, teller of tales including the occasional lie, saltwater angler, traveler, political junkie, technology geek, optimist, pessimist, wanna' be chef, and lover of independent thinkers. 2011 recipient of the Professor Irwin Corey Foremost Authority Award and resident curmudgeon of Worley Mill Rd.
“You can’t speak about our country the way those four congressmen – they said, ‘garbage.’ They say things about Israel that’s so bad I’m not even going to repeat them right now.
“They can’t get away with that act.”
Essentially Trump is claiming that Americans don’t have the right to say things that he disagrees with or doesn’t like. That somehow the First Amendment of free speech doesn’t apply to those who talk of things that challenge his hegemony of power.
By far not the only troubling thing about these most recent shootings that troubling but, in each case, it’s been said that the killer purchased their weapon legally and ONLINE. I’m ignorant of gun laws but I do remember that following the assignation of President Kennedy it generally became illegal to purchase guns through the mail. So, I assumed the same would hold true of the Internet. I did a little digging and think the following is generally true:
GOP DROPOUTS: According to the the Washington Post Texas GOP Republican Kenny Marchant became the 12th House Republican to toss in the towel and not run for reelection. The word in the cloakroom is it just isn’t worth putting up with Trump’s idiocy.
A friend of mine found a post on their Facebook feed this morning extolling the policies of Donald Trump and boldly stating that they didn’t care how horrible Trump was since he was ridding America of its rodent problem. One thing this idiot said that caught my attention was that Trump deserved our support because he was self-financed and didn’t depend on lobbyist and corporate financing.
I find this an interesting graphical illustration of mass shootings in America since Columbine in 1999. I’m not sure what defines a mass shooting but one definition I read says it is any that involved the death of four or more people.
There are several things illustrated by this graphic, the most blatant being the frequency of shootings and the death count. These truths demand some explanation, why are we increasingly in
A MILLION PAGES: It’s expected that the upcoming sex trafficking trial of Jeffery Epstein will involve a million pages of discovery evidence and take four to six weeks to hear the case. Thankfully I won’t be sitting on that jury.
Some years ago we woke to find ourselves in the midst of a growing population of old-order Mennonites and Amish folks. The Mennonites arrived first and located around the Rainsboro and Bainbridge areas. The Amish began arriving maybe fifteen years later and settled in the area between Petersburg and Leesburg. I don’t know about the growth of the Mennonite community but the Amish community has experienced amazing growth and it continues to expand.
The basis of their economies remains agriculture but many have side businesses to supplement their farm incomes. Seeing this as a draw for tourism I started a website called the AME Trail (Amish-Mennonite-English)and it features the many small businesses these community members have started. Unfortunately, I have not kept the site current but it still presents a good idea of what all can be found.
HAVE WE NO DECENCY? That’s the question the directors of the National Cathedral asked about the nation’s willingness to tolerate the behavior of Donald J. Trump.
I was coming home from Wilmington recently and came upon David’s Drive, a newer road that leads over to the north side of Wilmington Air Park. So, I turned right to see what I could see.
Once the road reaches the airpark it takes a hard right and parallels the facility for some distance. The first thing that caught my eye was a large plane sporting the words Prime Air sitting beside a large building bearing a number of Amazon phallic trademarks (Yeah, you’ve seen those boxes and thought the same thing, haven’t you?).
I recently posted on Facebook some photos of the area around our home. We live in thick woods surrounded by most plants and animals common to our area. That includes an abundance of poison ivy and other things that may make your skin itch.
One of the photos was of our wooden walk from the drive to the screened-in porch at the back of our home. Along the walk is a large tree with English Ivy growing up the trunk. Mixed in with the good stuff is a smattering of poison ivy and a plant named Virginia creeper. Some visitors to the posting seemed to not be able to identify the good from the nasty vegetation so I decided to do a little educating.
The Washington Post recently forced the Drug Enforcement Agency to open up its databases regarding the sale and distribution of prescription pain killers in America. The information can be broken down into states and individual counties and includes the drug manufacturers, distribution companies, and leading pharmacies.
In the State of Ohio during the period 2006 to 2012, there were 3,397,979,780 (billions) prescription pain pills supplied to Ohio’s pharmacies. Here’s a more detailed break down for Highland County and its neighbors. NOTE: Information from 2013 to 2019 is yet to be made public. Also, you may notice the name McKesson as being a major distributor. McKesson is the company who has a distribution center outside Washington Court House.
Highland: From 2006 to 2012 there were 7,388,100 prescription pain pills, enough for 57 pills per personper year, supplied to Highland County, Ohio.
Fayette: From 2006 to 2012 there were 10,553,020 prescription pain pills, enough for 52 pills per person per year, supplied to Fayette County, Ohio.
Clinton: From 2006 to 2012 there were 17,287,730 prescription pain pills, enough for58 pills per person per year, supplied to Clinton County, Ohio.
Ross: From 2006 to 2012 there were 35,275,018 prescription pain pills, enough for 65 pills per person per year, supplied to Ross County, Ohio.
Adams: From 2006 to 2012 there were 12,172,090 prescription pain pills, enough for61 pills per person per year, supplied to Adams County, Ohio
One of the earliest Mennonite and Amish settlements in South Central Ohio was atop Wheat Ridge in Adams County. The area has developed into a major tourist draw for urban populations in the area with the biggest attractions being Miller’s Grocery, Bakery, Furniture, and all things store on Wheat Ridge Rd. Maybe the next biggest is the Murphin Ridge Inn and Restaurant on Murphine Ridge Rd. It’s on the pricy side but proves that if you know how to cook, “they will come.”
Even people who don’t know shit about history like to say that it repeats itself. Well, assuming that it does, consider this. George Bush ushered in a huge unfunded tax cut at the beginning of his first term, followed by a huge unfunded increase in the Medicare plan. Then he invaded Afghanistan and began America’s longest military conflict. If that wasn’t enough he ordered the unjustified invasion of Iraq which evolved into our second longest military engagement. Toss into the mix the almost totally unregulated housing industry and kaboom, the economy imploded in 2007-08.
Well, Donald Trump ignorantly backed a huge unfunded tax cut for the upper classes and America is looking at borrowing, for the second straight year, a trillion dollars to pay for the deficit caused by Trump and the GOP in Congress. Ole Donnie loves to rave about the economy but…will history repeat itself?
For more information about the ever-growing Trump deficit, read the article at Axios.com.
I don’t know how many years Rocky Fork Lake has been the scene of powerboat racing but after a couple of years absence, it has returned. It was called Thunder in the Hills but the new name is Rumble in the Hills. I’m not sure if this is the 2nd or 3rd year for this iteration, but it’s back and lots of people seem to enjoy it.
I ventured into the dome of death (heat index) to get some BBQ ribs and shoot a few stills and a video. Now you can sit in your air-conditioned family room and get a hint of what’s going on in Highland County today. Stay cool, stay safe, and enjoy the video.
Ever hear the old adage, “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It simply wastes your time and pisses off the pig?” That’s what I think of when I think about trying to explain to a Trump supporter why they shouldn’t be a Trump supporter. They’re never going to get it and you’re just going to walk away pissed that you even tried.
While the woman in this video may be an extreme example of BLIND loyalty to the cult leader, she represents elements that are commonly found in the Trump Army of Kool-Aid consumers. She is stubborn, she is willfully ignorant, she refuses to even consider the truth, you could show her video footage of Trump’s comments and behaviors and she would find numerous ways to sidestep them.
